Sea ice thickness estimated from passive microwave radiometers

This study presents the findings of research into the correlation between sea ice thickness and passive microwave radiation. In-situ sea ice thickness samples were obtained from video observations by the icebreaker Soya during +330 +332 and surface feature observations in +331 by the visible and near-infrared radiometer AVNIR mounted on the ADEOS satellite. These sea ice thickness data were binned into grid cell data of the satellite microwave radiometer SSM/I for the same location, and averaged to provide an average ice thickness for a grid cell. In order to survey the relationship between sea ice thickness and microwave radiation, two sea ice classification parameters for SSM/I were investigated as to their ability to estimate sea ice thickness. One sea ice classification parameter is the Polarization Ratio (PR), which was developed for a seasonally ice covered area and can distinguish three ice types: new ice, young ice, and first-year ice. Another parameter is the ratio between -1 GHz vertical polarization and 2/ GHz vertical polarization (R-1V/2/V). It can distinguish fast ice in addition to the three ice types that can be distinguished by the PR. These parameters showed correlation coe$cients with in-situ sea ice thickness, *.11 and *.01, respectively, in this study. Estimated sea ice thickness derived from multiple regression analysis using PR and R-1V/2/V showed good correlation (R *.2+) with in-situ sea ice thickness.

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